Oakland County residents to compete in national dog show

Beverly Blanchard (left) of Pontiac, with her dog Wink, and her mother Linda Blanchard, of Clarkston, with her dog Maksim, will both be competing in the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show in New York Tuesday, pictured Thursday February 6, 2014. (Vaughn Gurganian-The Oakland Press)

ON TV

The 138th Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show will be televised. Monday’s live showing is from 8 to 11 p.m. on CNBC. Tuesday’s live showing is from 8 to 11 p.m. on the USA network.

The first memory Beverly Blanchard of Pontiac can recall is bottle-feeding German wirehaired pointer puppies.

Raising and training dogs runs in her family. Her mother Linda, 65, of Clarkston, has been showing dogs since she was 8 years old. Beverly followed suit, participating in her first dog show at the same age, before she even owned her own dog.

Now 44, Beverly’s heading to New York City to compete in the 138th Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, to take place Feb. 10-11. It will be the first time that she and her mother have competed in the event.

“We’ve never shown a dog at Westminster,” Beverly said, “so it’s kind of like a lifelong dream and goal. This is the dog show. This is the one that everyone wants to go to.”

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Linda added: “This is the Super Bowl.”

Both mother and daughter will bring their own dog, both of which are German wirehaired pointers. They will showcase the pups in the Best of Breed event Tuesday. The dogs will be judged based on conformation, meaning the judges rate the dogs on beauty and whether they live up to the breed’s standards.

They’ve been practicing constantly. Training for Beverly’s female dog CH Reece Afterhours Periwinkle RN, CGC, or Wink for short, who will be 2 years old in March, began when she was a puppy. Linda Blanchard’s male 3-year-old dog CH Harvest Meadows Classic Dancer CGC, or Maksim, also began training as a puppy.

The meaning behind their names: Reece and Afterhours are the two kennels in which Wink’s mom lived. Wink’s mom is named Daisy, which is why she named her after a flower, Periwinkle. Linda named Maksim after Maksim Chmerkovskiy who was in “Dancing With the Stars.”

To prepare for Westminster, they’ve been grooming their dogs once or twice a week.

Due to the cold weather, Beverly has been walking Wink up and down steps to keep her muscles toned. They also bring their dogs with them practically everywhere they go.

Beverly is the manager of canine development for Leader Dogs for the Blind in Rochester Hills while her mother owns Classic Trophies in Auburn Hills. They both bring their dogs to work.

The winner of Best of Breed in the German wirehaired pointer category will go on to the next round where they will compete against the best dogs of different breeds.

Two things make the Blanchards different from other competitors at Westminster, Beverly said.

“Number one: There’s very few if any other people at the dog show who will be mother and daughter showing dogs of the same breed,” she said. “Number two: She’s one of the minorities handling her own dog versus paying to have someone show their dog.”

Beverly will show her dog at Westminster using a dog handler. While they aren’t breeders, she said many people at Westminster breed their own dogs – including Richard Brown, 56, of West Bloomfield.

He will showcase a grand champion, an English bulldog named KR Emperor Pyrus, who will be 3 years old in May. The KR stands for Kip and Ric, who breed Bulldogs from home.

This is Brown’s first time at the Westminster, but certainly not his first dog show. He’s brought Pyrus to dog shows in several states, including Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, among others.

“It’s a lot of fun,” said Brown, a self-described animal lover. “It’s nice to have a grand champion. They’re my chosen breed that I show, and that I have been showing for four years.”

Pyrus will compete Monday in the Best of Breed. Another dog lover from Michigan also will be competing in this category, but with a different kind of dog.

Melissa Wade Raszkowski, 33, of Canton will bring a 4-year-old Belgian Tervuren named Stellar to the competition Monday. This, too, will be Wade’s first time competing at the Westminster Dog Show.

Imported from Norway as a puppy by Pat Morgan of Mayville, Mich., Stellar can compete in multiple areas such as agility, hurdling, and conformation. Although he will compete exclusively in the Best of Breed at Westminster, he’s “a very all-around dog, a dog that can go out and do anything,” Wade said.

Wade’s been showing dogs at shows since she was 5 years old. She does it because she loves dogs and loves to compete. “To be able to take them out and show them and win, it’s very rewarding,” she said.